Housing repair issues

If you are a tenant and you are concerned about a repair needed on your home, you should tell your landlord , agent or your repairs team first. Put it in writing by email, text or letter. Make a note of the date you reported the issue to them. For non-urgent issues give them 2 weeks to give an initial response. Please be aware the role of the Private Sector Housing Team is not to support a move from one property to another due to disrepair but to ensure existing property conditions are improved where necessary.

For a range of information about private renting please visit : https://www.gov.uk/private-renting

If you live in a Rooftop Housing Group property, you can report your disrepair issue via: Contact Us | Rooftop Housing (rooftopgroup.org) or telephone: 01386 420800.

If you live in a Platform Housing Group property, you can report your disrepair issue via: www.platformhg.com or telephone: 0333 200 7304. They have specific mould and condensation advice at: Damp and Condensation Mould | Platform Housing (platformhg.com).

Platform and Rooftop housing are registered providers. This means that they have expected response times and duties to tackle damp and mould for example. If you are not satisfied with their response to your issues, you can use their complaints procedure and then seek further help from the Housing Ombudsman if this does not resolve your issues. The council will not be involved in registered provider property disrepair cases unless the complaints procedure has not resolved the issues being experienced.

For private tenants, if after waiting a reasonable amount of time your repair issue has still not been fixed then you should report it to our Private Sector Housing Team and we will investigate. You will need to provide us with the evidence that you have already notified your landlord of the issue in order for us to assist.

For private tenants, here is a model letter or email template that you could use when reporting issues to your landlord/ agent.

Dear Sir/Madam, (landlord name if you have or to the agent)

Regarding (rental address)

Property repair issues

Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and Housing Act 2004

Date of reporting: (insert date)

I am writing to inform you of some disrepair issues at my home and would be grateful for a response regarding these.

The issues I have are:

1. (list issues, giving location, description and impact, e.g. hallway, electrical socket not functional, can’t use the electrics in the hall and concerned about the system as a whole)
2. I would be grateful if you can advise me in writing within 2 weeks of your response. I would ask items (1,2,) are treated as urgent compared to the other issues.

I can be contacted to arrange visits on (phone number / email address)

My availability over the next 2 weeks for any visit is as follows:

(give dates and times not available or available/preferred)

I have taken advice from the council on how to ensure the issues are addressed. If I do not receive a response regarding the above issues within 2 weeks or the response does not appear satisfactory, including proposed timescales for any works that can’t be done within the 2 weeks, I will be sending the Council copies of correspondence and seeking their active support to resolve the issues.

The council will then arrange inspection and may charge the landlord if they consider formal action is needed.

Thank you in advance for your response and help with these issues.

(sign/print name)

Property complaint procedure

1. When you contact the team, please provide us with a copy of any correspondence so we can determine whether we need to directly contact the landlord or agent on your behalf for a response or arrange a visit to inspect. Ideally send an email detailing your property address, landlord/agents details, list of outstanding issues and copies of relevant correspondence to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
2. We will contact you within 5 to 10 working days for most cases. If we determine that an inspection is needed, we must first notify the landlord or agent of the visit date and time and the issues that have been raised.
3. If we visit your property, we will inspect and assess using the Housing, Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). The risk assessments are based on the likelihood of an incident causing harm and the likely severity. The result of the assessment will help us decide what to do next. Read housing, health and safety rating system guidance on GOV.UK

Enforcement action

If our assessment has identified there is an issue that needs to be dealt with, we will determine if an informal approach is appropriate or take formal action.

Housing Act 2004 formal action can include:

• A Hazard Awareness Notice
• Improvement Notice
• Prohibition Notice
• Emergency Remedial Action
• Demolition Order
• Designate a Clearance Area

Please note there will be a charge made to the landlord for serving formal enforcement notices.  Any notice issued will be accompanied by a statement of reasons that explains why the council have determined that course of action. The tenant will be provided with a copy of any notice served.

Energy Performance Certificates

Private sector landlords are required to provide their tenants with an energy performance certificate. Properties should not be rented out if the EPC rating is F or G, unless there is an exemption registered that is a valid exemption. The council is actively prioritising and targeting enforcement of minimum energy performance standards. If your rented property does not have an EPC provided or the rating is for G, please notify the team and we will investigate. Landlords failing to respond to the council requests for information or renting out a sub-standard property can be fined up to £5,000.  For more information visit: www.gov.uk/guidance/domestic-private-rented-property-minimum-energy-efficiency-standard-landlord-guidance

Civil penalty notice

We can impose civil penalty notices as an alternative to prosecution (introduced by the schedule 9 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016, section 126 which came into force on 6 April 2017).

The offences that civil penalties can be considered for include:

• Failure to comply with an improvement notice (Housing Act 2004, section 30)
• Failure to licence a licensable house in multiple occupation under Housing Act 2004 Part 2 (Housing Act 2004, section 72)
• Failure to comply with overcrowding notice (Housing Act 2004, section 139 (7)
• Management regulations in respect of HMO’s (Housing Act 2004, section 234)

As set out in legislation we are required to publicise our process and our charging policy which is used to calculate the level of the penalty fine.

Read our Civil Penalty Notice Policy for information on our enforcement procedure and powers.

Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarms

Private sector landlords are required by law to have at least one smoke alarm installed on every storey of their property. They should also install a carbon monoxide alarm in any room containing a solid fuel burning appliance (e.g. a coal fire or wood burning stove).

Your landlord should also make sure checks are made to ensure that each alarm is in proper working order on the day a tenancy begins if it is a new tenancy.

Your landlord can be fined up to £5,000 for not complying with this regulation.

If you have a concern about the number of smoke alarms installed in your property, then please contact the team.

Read smoke and carbon monoxide alarm guidance for landlords and tenants on the Government’s website.

Further information on private renting, tenancy relations and landlord and tenant responsibilities:

For further information regarding private renting, tenancy relations and landlord and tenant responsibilities, please visit:  https://england.shelter.org.uk/

Bonfires, noise and odours

Advice on what to do about bonfires, noise and odours can be found on the Worcestershire Regulatory Services website.

More information

More advice regarding repair issues in rented housing is available from Citizens Advice.